Change one letter at a time · Each step must be a real word
Word Ladder is a classic word puzzle invented by Lewis Carroll in 1877. You are given a start word and an end word — both four letters long — and must transform one into the other by changing just one letter at a time. Every intermediate step must form a valid English word. The challenge lies in finding the shortest possible path, and whether you can solve it at or under par.
Tap any tile in the current row to select a position, then type a new letter. If all four letters form a valid word, the row locks in green and a new row appears. You can undo your last step at any time, or use a hint to reveal the next word in the optimal path. Beat par to earn 3 stars — par+1 earns 2 stars, and anything higher earns 1 star. The daily puzzle resets at midnight.
A word ladder is a puzzle where you transform one word into another by changing one letter at a time, with each step forming a valid English word. For example: COLD → CORD → CARD → WARD → WARM. The puzzle was invented by Lewis Carroll, who originally called them "Doublets."
Work systematically: look at which letters in your current word differ from the target, and try changing them one at a time while keeping valid words at each step. Sometimes you need to take a "detour" — temporarily moving away from the target to access a bridge word. Short common words like CARE, CORE, BORE, and MORE are often useful bridge words.
Word ladders were invented by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson — better known as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland — in 1877. He originally called them "Doublets" and published them as a weekly puzzle in Vanity Fair magazine. The puzzles became enormously popular in Victorian England.
Related games: Wordle | Word Search | Hangman
Last updated March 2026.